What the 'Game of Thrones' leaks tell us about Season 8

No Game of Thrones in 2018 means that the speculation around the show's eighth and final season will surge unbridled for another calendar year. While some would prefer to enter Season 8 pure as the snow over Winterfell, other fans devour every piece of set news or maybe-fake leaks that trickle out from Thrones's various filming locations. This article is for the latter — only those who want to know everything that's come out about Season 8 so far are welcome to proceed. If not, and know that this is meant in the politest way possible, scram.

Note: In addition to the information in this post, there are some alleged leaked script pages and episode synopsis from Game of Thrones Season 8, but they are both unverifiable and hardly sporting so Mashable has decided to neither link to nor acknowledge them.

Low-grade spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 below.

The only things we know for sure about Game of Thrones Season 8 are that it will air in 2019 and will be six episodes long. The episodes may be closer to feature-length films than standard television episodes as a way for making up for the small season order.

Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will direct one episode of the final season. The rest of the episodes will be directed by either David Nutter, who among other episodes directed the Red Wedding in Season 2, or Miguel Sapochnik, who also among other episodes directed the "holy shit, Cersei just blew up the Sept of Baelor and waterboarded a nun" finale of Season 6. None of the show's female directors will have an episode in the final season.

As for who is going to be in the final season, it's a good bet that all of the currently alive main characters will show up at some point. There are, however, rumors that some minor characters will return as well as casting notices that hint as to who will join the GoT heroes and villains for their final journey.

One of the only named new characters is Harry Strickland, who Watchers on the Wall reported will be played by Marc Rissman. Harry Strickland is the leader of the Golden Company, the mercenary army Cersei sent Euron Greyjoy to fetch in the Season 7 finale.

Returning actors who are not part of the main crew include Megan Parkinson as Alys Karstark, who was at the center of Jon Snow and Sansa Stark's Season 7 argument over what to do with families who were formerly loyal to Ramsey Bolton. Jon voted to give the disloyal Karstarks their castle back, and Alys returning in Season 8 may mean that Jon or Sansa will have to face the consequences of that decision. Harry Grasby, whose character Ned Umber was in a similar situation to Alys, was photographed at the Belfast airport, potentially on his way to shoot more scenes as the Umber heir.

Wilf Scolding, who played Jon Snow's dad Rhaegar Targaryen in a flashback, posted a quickly deleted Instagram in front of the Europa Hotel in Belfast, so it's very possible that more flashbacks to Rhaegar's romance with Lyanna Stark and perhaps his conflict with Robert Baratheon will appear in Season 8.

Taking a hard left turn into Spoilertown after this, read at your own risk.

Video taken at the filming location of Winterfell indicate that the ancestral home of the Starks is going to go up in flames. Fans will recall that this isn't the first time Winterfell has burned on the show — Ramsay Bolton put the castle to the torch when he took it from Theon Greyjoy — but judging on the size of the flames in the set video, this is no human-level fire. Many suspect that Winterfell will undergo a dragon attack at some point in Season 8, but will it be an angry Daenerys and Drogon turning against her nephew and rival or the Night King astride the undead Viserion?

Extras and actors dressed as Daenerys's Unsullied army were also spotted around the Winterfell set, indicating that Dany makes it to her sister-in-law Lyanna's old home either as a friend or a foe.

Before and after set photos from Titanic Studios in Belfast show that a new, previously unseen King's Landing set was built on the studio lot, then made to look burned as well. The images show a chattered gate and parapets destroyed by fire — the gates of King's Landing have never been breached before on the show, not even during Stannis Baratheon's attack at the Battle of Blackwater. Will someone's dragons pay Cersei a visit as well?

Further set leaks show that a major clash of characters will likely take place at the Dragonpit, which is filmed near Seville, Spain. Reports say that estranged husband and wife Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark will be present at the pit, as the body doubles for Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner appeared in the area. Maisie Williams was also recently in Seville. Coincidence? Probably not.

Lastly, frenemies Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth will reunite in Season 8, as set reports describe them fighting together in a snowy setting. Interestingly, both of those characters bear Valyrian steel swords made from the melted remains of Ned Stark's greatsword, Ice. Having the two of them fight side by side is almost, almost like having ol' dead Ned there in spirit. Almost.

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